Government to double milk earnings by 2027

Kiambu,

Wednesday July 10, 2024

KNA Wangari Ndirangu

The National Government plans to double milk earnings to more than Sh 80 billion by 2027 through enhancing feeding programmes, disease control and extension services.

Livestock Development Principal Secretary Jonathan Mueke has said strategies have been put in place to pursue increased earnings to farmers.

Speaking on the sidelines after officially opening of the Kenya Dairy Board (KDB) headquarters and launch of the Strategic Plan 2023/2027 in Kabete, the PS said that Kenya is producing 5.2 billion litres annually, but plans to increase the same to 11 billion litres by 2027.

“Our focus goal is on increasing both volume and value, while at the same time ensuring the farmer’s financial base has been strengthened,” Mueke said.

He explained that the government has made some very significant policy changes with the most notable being the movement from quantity-based payments to quality-based payments.

What this means, he explained, is that the government will now pay farmers based on the quality of milk they produce and the higher the quality, the more money goes into their pockets.

 He noted that improving the quality of milk, further means a focus towards value addition not just on production of milk, but now go into manufacturing of high value dairy products like chocolate, butter, ghee, milk powder, ice cream that will put more money into the pockets of farmers.

 Apart from value addition, the PS said that the government wants to expand production into the rest of the Country moving from the highland areas around Mount Kenya and rift valley and venturing into Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs). 

 “To grow the milk volumes, we will target the ASALs, target the youth, women and this will help us get to our target of 10.5 billion litres by 2027 and also completely open up the economy in the pastoralists areas which is attainable,” he noted.

 Mueke called on processors to invest by setting up factories and other processing plants in the ASALs.

 He noted that the government wants to also ensure that production of milk is safe by getting rid of impurities and named the Bio Foods funded by USAID, which has taken the initiative to run safe milk campaigns. 

 “Dairy is one of those industries that is a key pillar in poverty reduction, in job creation, in wealth creation, and the strategies that we have put together here for the next five years is going to ensure that we achieve exactly that,” Mueke said.

 Margaret Kibogy, Managing Director (MD) KDB said they have been able to improve compliance when it comes to milk from 80 percent in 2017 to 96 percent by 2022.

 She added however that much more needs to be done especially in areas of hygiene, milk handling, antibiotics and aflatoxins to be able to reach 100 percent compliance and ensure safety of milk and milk products.

 “We will be spending Sh4 billion in the next five years to finance interventions enhancing feeding, breeding, disease control and farmer extension services,” she said, adding that this will help in increasing productivity per cow from five to 10 litres per day.

Kibogy explained that Ward based feed centers will be established to supply feed to dairy farmers and that the increased production will require additional investments in milk cooling and processing to handle the estimated 3.3 billion litres of milk to be formally marketed per year.

 She confirmed that the value of marketed milk increased to Sh40.5 billion at the end of 2023 compared to Sh35.8 billion in 2022, while the Value of export value increased to Sh7.3 billion from Sh4.9 billion in 2022 and the volume of processed milk sold both locally and externally reached 810 million litres compared to 801.9 million litres. 

 “We expect to export 1 billion litres. We have mapped out and have developed an export strategy working very closely with industry champions and players to ensure that we are able to achieve the target,” she said.

On milk aggregation, Kibogy explained that there has been an increase in the number of dairy farmer’s cooperatives from 670 in 2021 to 770 in 2023 in counties and the combination dairy business model has aggravated urbanization and high demand for safe milk.

 Further, the MD said that the government has supported the process through provision of key facilities like the coolers, adding that plans are in gear on growing consumption of dairy products by 10 per cent annually.

 Kibogy noted that when the previous strategic plan had been launched 5 years ago, there were only 22 processors, but as of now there are 50 milk processors in the country from small players, the bottom-up processors, about 3,000 doing mini dairies, cottages, and these shows growth in terms of organization of the dairy industry.

 Prof. Ally Okeyo from International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) said they are working with KDB in a Sh800 million ceiling project called More Milk, which is focusing on food safety in three Counties Nakuru, Uasin Gishu and Nyandarua.

 “We are working on capacitating informal milk vendors so that they can have better practices and have safe milk, working on de-risking them so that they can have access to finances and buy appropriate equipment to enable them to handle milk much more safely and finally creating awareness as to why the value of milk is a wealth creator and is a nutritious food,” he added.

Prof. Okeyo said there is need to have market systems that are evidence based to enable farmers and all the value chain actors to extract optimum profit from their businesses as well as come up with models that can secure farmers from vulgarities of weather.

The Kenya Dairy sector provides livelihood to an estimated 1.8 million smallholder households, employing an estimate of 750,000 persons directly and 500,000 indirectly.

Kiambu County has for the last 5 years been the highest milk producer in the country, with an annual production of 430 million litres annually.

 Courtesy; KNA